


Kittens and Jam

by Magiclocket



Series: Everyday life in 221b [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Everyday Life, Gen, Sherlock Being Sherlock, Strawberry Jam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2013-10-24
Packaged: 2017-12-30 09:38:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1017054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magiclocket/pseuds/Magiclocket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“  Really John, you amaze me. “</p><p>The doctor took another bite of his toast, trying to remember what he did in the previous hours which resulted in the detective to question  his temperament.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kittens and Jam

**Author's Note:**

> Second fanfic. A quick glance more about the boys, this time involving jam.  
> Brief mention of PTSD  
> I'm not a native english speaker so do not hesitate to tell me about any error or mispelling.  
> No Beta, no Brit-pick.  
> I really hope you'll enjoy the story.  
> =^.^=

“  Really John, you amaze me. “

John Watson stopped eating his breakfast and turned his head to look at his flatmate. This kind of statement coming from Sherlock Holmes was a total novelty and he was kind of frightened and thrilled in the same time.

“ May I ask you what is it that can cause you such a surprise ? It's so unusual for you to admit you don't already know everything about me. “

“ Don't be silly, I know everything significant there is to know about you. It's that sometime like this morning, you do certain things I didn't expect from your nature. “

The doctor took another bite of his toast, trying to remember what he did in the previous hours which resulted in the detective to question his temperament. He saw nothing special. He woke up early, took a shower and dressed himself in casual trouser and comfortable jumper, as always. Then he went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast without paying attention to the fact that Sherlock was laying, mumbling on the couch and that he had surely been there, doing the same thing, all night long. He was now sitting in the living room, eating his toasts and drinking his tea. Nothing unusual.

“ I haven't your intellectuals capacities or your science of deduction but I totally failed to see what you made reference to. “ John was really curious to know what Sherlock found strange in his morning behaviour.

“ I was talking about the way you eat. How can somebody swallow this amount of toast and jam ? I never though humanly possible to ingest this quantity of sugar so early in the day and not feeling nauseous. “ The thin man made a face of distaste at the thought.

“ As if you're the one to criticize my eating habits ! You basically not eat for days when you're on a case and then you gobble up your food. You're not exactly a model of healthy conduct. “ More than been angry, John had been astonished to know that Sherlock payed attention to how he eat. He had always thought that daily little things like the way he like his morning tea or his food intake weren't worthy a room in Sherlock's mind palace. He knew sometimes Sherlock didn't even noticed if he was in the flat or not, so the fact he minded to bother about the content of John's breakfast was new and intriguing.

“ I have never pretended to be a model for anything or anyone. I don't care about what people think of me and you know why I don't eat when I'm on a case. It slow me down, bodily function such as the digestive process impedes the operation of my deductions. I take enough nutriments to maintain optimal brain's working, no more. But I can tell that your intake of food this morning isn't on a good nutritional balance to maximize your contribution to the Work, mentally nor physically. ” The slender man was speaking with a professorial tone and a straight face that were beginning to piss off his flatmate. 

“ I'm a doctor for fuck sake ! I know about nutrition and balance. Plus, I notice you only care because of the Work ! Not everything I do or think intended to serve your obsession, I have my own life if you want to know. I'm more then your assistant and your blogger. “ John's face was blushing with rage, he was hissing. Sherlock had a sudden vision of a angry hedgehog shouting on him, a smirk spread unintentionally on his face.

“ Calm your quills ! I mean no offense. I was merely pointing some facts to help you improve your well-being. “

What the detective was failing to confess, was that he really care of the little man, more than he ever cared of anyone before. When he first met John in the lab at St Bart, among his history as an army doctor, his psychosomatic limp and the alcoholism of his sister, Sherlock had detected some eating disorder in the doctor. He was then thin as a lath and clearly wasn't eating enough, the crude light of the lab lamps accentuating his features in a fascinating way. Sherlock has supposed rightly that it was due to his post traumatic stress disorder, soldiers often having trouble with food when returning in the civil life. He always suspected that if he hadn't meet John that day, things might have turned a bit no good for his friend, he looked so stung out and tired.  
Since then he was fearing any change in his eating habits. Not caring of himself, he grew more and more attentive about every little variations of John's behaviour. He wanted to know everything he did, say or eat to prevent any relapse. Even in the middle of a important case, he had always took time to treat his companion to a meal, at their first night at Angelo's place and the Chinese take-out after their first case, at another Chinese restaurant during their pursuit of the Tang mafia, at the crappy eatery when racing against the clock before meeting Moriarty in the pool, at every morning's breakfasts during his showdown with The Woman ( he feared that John took this case worse than he had expected), in the end of the Baskerville Hound hunting (mostly to apologize). Every times and everywhere he had took care of feeding him, sometimes taking a bite of this and a glup of that to make a good impression but not really paying attention to his own needs as long as his biology did not impede the investigation. And now, the gentle doctor had started to eat a little bit too much of sugary food, he might have a sweet tooth but he acquired a strange obsession for jam and marmalade. It was good that he ate more but going to the opposite excess was not the goal of Sherlock.  
Mycroft had said caring was not a advantage but the more he happened to know the ex-army doctor, the more he cared of him, worried about him. That was new, a little fearsome, but definitely captivating.  
Despite his internal struggles, his face was covered with a smirk and his mouth was full of sarcasm.

John shrugged.

“ I'm perfectly well. I don't see how eating toast and jam for breakfast is unhealthy, plus today it's Mrs Hudson's homemade strawberry jam. You should taste it before criticized it. “  
Saying that, John took a spoonful of the red jelly directly for the jar and processed to lick it truthfully. His tongue swirled around the spoon and he licked every drop like a cat licked a bowl of creamy milk. Sherlock looked, fascinated by the movement of John's lips.

God ! This man who can pass from fury to sensual gluttony, was literally made of kittens, jam and rage, don't forget rage. Cute soft little angry kitten with jam on his whiskers.

Mistaking his flatmate's insisting look for hunger, John handed him the jar. The sleuth strode to him, dipped a finger in the jam, took it to his mouth and started to suck it, eyes closed.  
It was good, indeed. Too much sugar for his liking but full of childhood memories he never thought he had. He was understanding now why John was so fond of it, it brought the man back to a time of happiness and innocence, a time before war and sorrow. The ex-soldier was desperately clinging to memento of happy mornings, family gatherings around a dining-table full of various kind of jam, marmalade, jelly, served with fresh bread and sweet milk tea. Days that were behind him, letting him face his parents deaths, his sister's downgrade and his pitiful love life.  
How a simple swig of food can be this powerful ? Emotions and feelings were definitely not is area but he understand now why John was so keen to react when Sherlock blamed his breakfast's habits.

It was the turn to John to stare at the dark haired man. Sherlock stood in the living-room wearing his blue silk robe, his eyes shut, his finger covered with jam, in his mouth. He seemed lost in thought.  
He's been living with him for months but he couldn't understand how this great mind works. In some occasions, he had the illusion that he had finally comprehended how Sherlock sees the world but the next moment he was totally lost. All this drama for a bit of jam on toast ! 

“ So, what do you think about it now. It tastes wonderful, doesn't it ? I don't know why you were complaining, I can indulge in sweets, on occasions. I'm surprised that you think it's a childish and unhealthy thing to do. There isn't always a practical reason behind everything people do. “ 

“ I admit that its taste is interesting, but I didn't have any references to compare. “

“ Perhaps you should sample others varieties, like apricot jam or orange marmalade ? “

Sherlock just had a epiphany. Maybe he can pretend to conduct a experiment and buy lots of jam and jelly to test the differences between them. That would make him a excuse to make John happy and to keep track of his food intake and preferences. 

“ Hum John, you're fantastic ! That's it, I'm going to test all the range of fruit spreads I can find, even honey, if we're going to be exhaustive ! Hurry up, finish your toast, we have shopping to do ! “

With a swirl of his robe, Sherlock rushed to his bedroom to change his clothes, leaving a stunned captain Watson in the living-room. John blinked several times before understanding what just happened. He awoke from his stupor when a piece of his toast failed in his cuppa, splashing tea on his lap.

“ Oh shit ! What have I done ? As if he needs more silly ideas for his experiments. I'm afraid the kitchen will be full of jars for weeks and this big brat will suffer from tooth decay. “

He sighed and began to tidy up the dining-table. Yet, he couldn't keep away his smile. The childish and unpredictable conduct of his flatmate was a welcome diversion of his boring life.

No, really, it was Sherlock who always managed to amaze him.


End file.
